Affinity Water
Affinity Water are the largest water-only supplier in the UK, providing on average 950 million litres of water each day to a population of more than 3.6 million people in parts of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Surrey and parts of some London Boroughs.
“We required a locking solution to update and increase the physical security of some of our assets, it became apparent that an off-the-shelf solution would not be able to meet our requirements. We discussed our brief and what we had hoped to achieve with Matt, who worked closely with us to tailor a custom solution to meet our needs. We are confident the solution we arrived at will ensure the continued protection and security of our assets for years to come and would not hesitate to recommend dormakaba for physical security solutions.”
Edward Towndrow
Project Commissioning Engineer
Affinity Water
With several challenges to overcome, Affinity Water required a specialist approach to update the security of some of its roadside cabinets. dormakaba was able to meet the project brief using its in-house design expertise to create and modify a bespoke locking solution that met all requirements.
With an existing network of cabinets that house water supply equipment and valves, Affinity Water needed to upgrade the security of assets to maintain supply across the network.
Faced with the prospect of replacing entire cabinets in some regions and the associated cost and disruption, the company sought to retrofit its existing network with new locking solutions. However, a retrofit posed a number of limitations and challenges. Firstly, the new locks had to adhere to a master key system to ensure compatibility with existing operational processes. In addition, the new locks were required to work with the company’s existing alarm systems within each cabinet. Furthermore, any new solution needed to be incredibly robust to withstand the elements and potential vandalism.
dormakaba, known for its specialist locking solutions, was approached in the first instance thanks to its in-house design and prototype capabilities. Led by Matt Francombe, Industrial Locking Solutions Account Manager at dormakaba, the dormakaba team identified early on that a bespoke solution was required to meet the demands of this project. Following site survey’s and design meetings with Affinity Water and other associated contractors to establish the exact requirements for each cabinet, dormakaba’s design team worked on detailed solutions and carried out a number of prototypes and installation tests.
As a result, a bespoke locking solution using the Kaba 20 Enclosure Guard was engineered. Matt Francombe, of dormakaba, commented “Having worked with Affinity Water for over 25 years, we are well aware of the challenges they face in ensuring some of their older assets are maintained and adhere to relevant security requirements. By using our in-house design and engineering capabilities, we were able to provide a robust and reliable solution to overcome what could have become a challenging problem in a short space of time and cost effective manner”.
The Enclosure Guard is an extremely flexible, high security locking solution, designed for withstanding harsh environments and potential attack, making it ideal for remote locations. The stainless steel body and locking bolt provide high levels of physical security whilst combining this with the Kaba 20 registered key platform provides ultimate key control.
Furthermore, the new specialist locks were also fitted with a microswitch that linked to the cabinet’s alarm system to ensure the security team could monitor the status of each asset at all times. The locks were also manufactured and fitted with a newly designed shroud and side protection, and supplied in a bespoke green finish, to seamlessly match the paint of the cabinets.
Thanks to the complete support provided by dormakaba from the survey and design stage through to installation and continued aftercare, Affinity Water were able to easily upgrade and retrofit all its roadside cabinets with a robust security solution without the need for an entire cabinet replacement.
Featured products in this project
High quality guard for high security applications
The patented Kaba 20 series is ideal for heavy usage, industrial and commercial applications where security and durability are paramount